A wealthy tourist has been charged with stabbing a catamaran captain with a filet knife in what the victim called the “most random, wildest and craziest thing you’ll ever hear of.”
Avery Nissen, a 21-year-old tourist from Kansas, was charged with attempted murder of Stanley Lurbiecki, 62, during a three-hour snorkelling tour with his mom and a sibling on vacation in Hawaii.
The group was just 30 minutes away from returning to Honokōhau Harbor when Nissen allegedly slashed Lurbiecki in the head and stomach with a 10-inch filet knife stolen from the galley, local outlet Big Island Now reported.
“I wrestled the knife out of him and he continued to frantically stab away at me,” Lurbiecki, a boat captain of 35 years, told the outlet from his hospital bed.
Nissen, from the ritzy Kansas city of Overland Park, then jumped into the water after trying to be restrained by his mom — before he was brought back on board.
His sibling helped the captain stem the bleeding as he steered the 55-foot-long ship back to port.
“I made it into the harbor and backed the boat up, and the paramedics met me there and further stopped the bleeding. I’d lost almost half my blood,” Lurbiecki said.
Police said that “the motive for the attack is unknown” — and the captain also said he is finding it impossible to wrap his head around what happened.
“This is like the most random, wildest, craziest thing you’ll ever hear of,” he said of the attack.
Nissen was charged with second-degree attempted murder, which carries a sentence of life behind bars, as well as first-and second-degree assault. He is being held on a $1.57 million bond and is due in court Monday.
Lurbiecki’s pal Mark Towill, the president of Hawaii Nautical, said he’s “stable” and “recovering.”
“He’s a real hero and fighter,” he told KHNL.
